Chicken, Chorizo and Watercress Risotto

March 4th, 2008

I was really very pleased with how this turned out when I put it together for dinner last night, using leftover roast chicken and stock from the carcass. Chicken and chorizo is a great combination anyway, and the base rosemary flavour was a very complimentary backdrop. Whilst there wasn’t a great deal of flavour from the watercress it gave a really good texture and colour to the dish.

I really do think it’s worth taking the time and trouble to make your own chicken stock for this, and in fact any, risotto. The stock is what gives the rice so much flavour, and as the main ingredient in risotto, you really do want the rice to be packed full of flavour.

Whilst I’ve specified the amount of chorizo and chicken (yes, I actually weighed them just so I could tell you how much I used!), really just throw in a handful or two of each, roughly the same quantity. It probably is worth weighing out the rice because it can be deceiving and when it swells up you could end up with a lot more than you bargained for!

1. Finely chop the spring onion and celery, and gently fry them in the butter and olive oil for a minute or so.2. Dice the chorizo sausage and add it to the pan, frying it for about 3 minutes.3. Next add the rice and stir it around to coat it well with the oil that will have seeped out of the chorizo. Fry it for a minute or so.4. Add a slosh of vermouth or white wine to the pan and allow it to sizzle so the alcohol burns off.5. Chop the leaves from a sprig of rosemary very finely and add to the pan.6. Start adding the stock, a ladle full at a time, stirring the rice continually so that it absorbs the stock. Wait for the rice to absorb one ladle full before adding another.7. About half way through add in the roast chicken.8. Once the rice is creamy and al-dente (softened but with a ‘bite’ in the middle) and the chicken is heated through take it off the heat and serve.